Arrest warrant issued for San Jose-area Vagos member in slaying of Hells Angels chapter president during Street Vibrations

Sep. 29, 2011

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Sparks police on Thursday continued looking for the Vagos motorcycle club member charged in a warrant with the premeditated murder of a San Jose, Calif., Hells Angels chapter president during Street Vibrations.

An arrest warrant was issued late Wednesday for Vagos motorcycle club member Ernesto Manuel Gonzalez, who police say is responsible for the shooting death of Jeffrey "Jethro" Pettigrew, 51, last week. Gonzalez is being sought on a charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon. The warrant carries no bail.

Authorities say Gonzalez, 53, of the San Jose area, shot Pettigrew four times in the back at John Ascuaga's Nugget.

The warrant said police found that Gonzalez had been a registered guest of the Nugget. His whereabouts are currently unknown, authorities said.

Also Thursday, one of Pettigrew's fellow club members was arraigned on weapons charges related to shooting his gun Friday on the crowded Trader Dick's dance floor at the Nugget during a struggle between the two biker clubs.

The slaying

Investigators said in court documents that they found seven .40-caliber bullet casings near Pettigrew, who was found on the ground of the dance floor. Pettigrew was shot four times in the back, police said, and also suffered stab wounds, court documents show.

The shooting caused the city of Sparks to cancel the remainder of its part of Street Vibrations and declare a 24-hour state of emergency so that extra resources could help monitor possible retaliatory violence.

Sparks police said a member of the Vagos club was shot in the stomach in a drive-by shooting while riding his motorcycle Saturday morning. They have not announced any suspects or confirmed whether it was a retaliatory crime linked to Hells Angels.

Sparks police have used video surveillance captured by the Nugget that showed the deadly encounter about 11:30 p.m. Friday at Trader Dick's.

Pettigrew died at the hospital of gunshot and stab wounds to his torso, the affidavit said. Two Vagos members were also treated for gunshot injuries that were not life-threatening: Leonard Ramirez, of Garden Grove, Calif., and Diego Garcia, of San Jose. Ramirez was shot in the abdomen, and Garcia was wounded in the calf.

Gonzalez, according to the arrest warrant, had approached two of his fellow Vagos on the dance floor, shaking their hands and hugging them. The alleged altercation with Pettigrew occurred with unidentified Vagos, but police said Gonzalez left the dance floor and came back 10 seconds later carrying a gun in his left hand.

Detectives noted in the arrest warrant that no other Vagos besides Gonzalez are seen in the video surveillance approaching the fight.

Citizens are seen on the surveillance footage ducking near the bar as if a succession of gunshots were being fired, the document said.

Gonzalez was then seen running from the dance floor, stuffing his gun in his waistband, the warrant said, adding that no other Vagos were shown on the footage leaving the area; they remained on the scene after the shooting.

Villagrana arraignment

Conduct depicted in the footage was also used as evidence to charge Hells Angels member Cesar Villagrana, 36, of Gilroy, Calif., with carrying a concealed weapon, assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm into a structure.

During Villagrana's arraignment Thursday morning in Sparks Justice Court, Justice of the Peace Susan Deriso ruled Villagrana must remain in Washoe County Jail in lieu of $500,000 cash bail. Deriso said she originally set his bail and believed it was appropriate given the facts of the case she had at the time.

"I guess I understand," Villagrana told Deriso when she asked him if he understood the charges against him.

According to the warrant, Gonzalez was captured on video surveillance approaching the dance floor with a handgun drawn as two of his fellow Vagos club members were fighting with Pettigrew. Court records say Pettigrew was seen on video surveillance punching and pistol-whipping rival Vagos members.

According to a probable cause affidavit supporting Villagrana's arrest, police said he was captured on video surveillance drawing a gun out of his waistband and "actively firing into a crowd of uninvolved citizens, as well as rival motorcycle club members known as 'Vagos.'"

The document said Villagrana was with Pettigrew for Street Vibrations.

Villagrana's attorney from Las Vegas, Richard Schonfeld, asked Deriso for an Oct. 5 hearing to discuss lowering Villagrana's bail. Schonfeld said the bail was too high for the charges and that Villagrana has no felony criminal history and has been caring for his ill mother in Gilroy, where he has lived for decades.

According to court records, Villagrana was arrested in April by police in his hometown of Gilroy for possession of an unregistered handgun and participating in a criminal street club. The disposition of that case was unknown.

Schonfeld said he would be defending Villagrana with his law partner, David Chesnoff.

Chesnoff is a celebrity attorney who regularly appears on national cable news shows. Both attorneys and local lawyer Scott Freeman represented millionaire pawn shop owner Darren Mack, who killed his wife and shot a judge, before Mack obtained new counsel.

Anyone with information on the Street Vibrations cases is asked to contact Secret Witness at 775-353-2225 or Secret Witness at 775-322-4900.